This Is Water - David Foster Wallace - Part 1

courtesy of www.bravenewlife.com
This is part 1 of a commencement speech given in 2005 by David Foster Wallace.

[@FatBoyLemons]

I witnessed this speech and it changed my life on the spot. I remind myself everyday to remember it and re-read it monthly.

[@MustangCoupe1951]

This changes reality forever.

[@smopoo]

Who on earth could dislike this speech... incredible.

[@simonwillover4175]

I think it is a fine speech, but it confuses me, about 2 times per sentence!

[@colourfuleffects262]

This is an amazing speech!! Watch the part 2!! It is awesome!!

[@st81982001]

All high school need this over all of the world it is really good, and it will help the world change

[@BricksInDaWall]

the power of your thoughts is incredible.

[@palebluelines]

Thanks for overlaying key points of Wallace's speech. It's a nice touch.

[@bangbangdivine]

Ok. Ok. Ok. I'm not kidding around here but I have just listened to the first 80 seconds and I'm speechless. An American I met had a "This is water" tattoo. Hence I'm here. Just wow. Ok back to the 'play' button...

[@mmjohnston21]

I thought the same thing several years back when I first read "This is Water" But you can read the sadness and desperation.

[@ajurado800]

Truly (with a capital T) words to live by.

[@PrettyPoison93]

Thanks for uploading! My freshman compositions class wanted me to read this, and it's nice to hear it naturally from the author.

[@FatBoyLemons]

He didn't criticize the graduates. He said they/we need to learn to exercise "some control over how and what you think." He didn't say this is how to think; he said in the banal situations in life, you should learn to and then control how and what you think about, and consider that while you may believe yourself to be the utmost center of every experience you have (with validity), everyone else is thinking the same. Thus, you should exercise control over your thoughts. This is water, I was there

[@Immortal_swine]

I wish i got a speech like this when i graduated.

[@simonwillover4175]

I don't remember anyone saying anything interesting during my hell ceremony.

[@ppofnz]

this guys the man!

[@TheBestUserName321]

THANKS......I needed this thanks

[@MEAGH4N]

this was a nice way of looking life and all that comes with it -- tyvm

[@FiammettaN66]

I miss him!

[@taylorvo1386]

I think about this a lot.

[@WhiteSilverAngel]

Remember, you're a spiritual being experience a human experience. The human experience is riddled with these "clouds." But if you can connect to your true essence, that which is complete unity, love and bliss, than you can experience life how it was always meant to be experienced. Hope this helps in some way, wishing peace, joy and the most beautiful fulfilling life to you :)

[@WhiteSilverAngel]

But life is such a gift. Its a garden full of potential. Why waste your life being anything but happy in every moment? Sure there are bad moments or bad feelings, but they are like clouds passing by a mountain. They come and go, while the mountain stands strong, perfectly fine, just existing. If you're not happy, then what can you change or create that will make life more fulfilling? It could be something in the material world, but it could also just be a change in the choice of attitude :)

[@shimblypibbins]

I have never met you, but I love you.

[@JonathanNcha]

This is genius

[@CrowClouds]

Oh... Wow.

[@elgado]

great companion reading: Iris Murdoch's essays "The Idea of Perfection" and "The Sovereignty of Truth". The big difference between Wallace and Murdoch: for Murdoch, virtue and morality are not limited to character and action... vision, too, can be virtuous or defective. How one perceives reality is very much a question of moral good, as our default setting is to reaffirm the comforting convictions of the ego. If you like Wallace's speech here and want more of the same, read Murdoch.

[@Zahgurim]

Most people find it hard to follow their own advice. It doesn't make the advice bad.

[@minored360]

"Most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pulled the trigger" -- Fuck, man, that line gave me a teary eye; he gave this speech in 2005 and killed himself in 2008.

[@jeffersonholt1550]

If you want to try to make life less boring do something different tomorrow with your free time. I tried yoga and it really helped me after two weeks of consistent practice. Good luck.

[@fslubin]

I'm reminded of Janov's (The Primal Scream, 1970) dictum -- You can only heal where you've been wounded. Depression comes from pain and the deep burial of it, not from 'thinking wrong.' A big severed-headed intellectual, even a lovely one like DFW, could not reach his deep injury through his head, but only through the wound itself. One will die, trapped in the ivory tower.

[@simonwillover4175]

Bro, what???

[@fslubin]

@@simonwillover4175 I realize that "Bro, what???" is an unassailable polemical tactic, but I still have to roll my eyes at it.

[@thirstbusters]

Dope

[@Cormin]

I spent most of the video trying to figure out if the picture was still zooming out

[@spd13062]

Fucking brilliant.....the truth.

[@demonator506]

And you are free to do so.

[@adz123100]

So much positivity in the comments. I like people.

[@ThrenchLP]

indeed

[@muzafer1]

u make sense.

[@Alldayeveryday404]

This guy's brain is badass.

[@demonator506]

The most obvious and important realities are the ones that are hardest to see.

[@zara615]

I thought I was the only one that noticed this! This speech is well writen at first but once you look more into it, you'll realize he's criticizes the graduates.

[@user-yu9qs8nt1w]

جميل جدا

[@thejesusway]

Would it be legal for be to use certain excerpts of this video as part of a documentary film?

[@jbickle111]

Beautiful...up there with mlk's mountaintop speech....just amazing and real in a time dominated by virtual shit

[@Fuckoffgoogle25]

It's not that it had not value, it did. Just ironic that the crux of the speech is about how not to end up killing yourself.

[@calabiyou]

he starts out saying he doesn't want to tell people how to think and then later he says people need to be taught how to think

[@madpadlovesyou]

[@Llamaphant17]

Do you happen to have a live recording of it?

[@MrDoremouse]

His description of the ''horrors'' of daily life Iin the last few minutes reminds me why Situationists and anarchist types in 1968 wanted to change the world (not that I approve of violent revolution, I hate violence).We all seem resigned to it now.

[@vallangink]

If people are smart, why do they die? People die. Wallace described suicide as being in a burning building. For people that live life day to day with depression, you have the choice of burning to death in slow agonizing pain or jumping out of the building. Faced with that choice, which would you choose? Wallace chose the latter. Reality was too much for him to bear, because he saw so much of it.

[@123calisunshine]

this guy is awesome.. i just wish this made sence cuz i have a paper to write on it and i can't follow him.. help :O

[@elizas.5951]

What is the connection between space and this story? What is the point of the story of two fish?

[@cynthiacastro445]

can please can someone tell me what is he trying to say ?

[@davidrichman9779]

Lest you are wondering, I am using the expression not to denigrate the female form, but rather use a silly sounding word to call a GUY. If I was referring to a woman, it would be much more offensive. I wouldn't flagrantly throw around that word willy nilly, sorry if it came off as offensive.

[@amannel1]

His Brain was badass, he killed the Evil master. :(

[@ContraPoints]

Well, Bloom, like so many writers and critics, is so focused on one ideal of thinking and beauty that he totally misses genius when it takes other forms.

[@Manbagdeluxe]

05:12

[@Dpiiiius]

This guy used his mind .

[@Mapother78]

He tells you at 1:00.

[@MegaAclass]

How is there arguing can't people just watch the video and leave a nice comment?

[@joshgb]

But who will remember Harold Bloom?

[@jonathancruz12345]

?blind certainty- close mindedness or absolute faith in ones belief in their chosen god? perhaps imprisonment if the choice turns out to be an idol, liberation if it's the real God.

[@MrDoremouse]

I suppose you could just practice ''mindfullness'' in a meditative way while enduring the tedium.Still, we haven't organized life in the ideal way, have we ?

[@davidrichman9779]

Haha cool.

[@paddymourinho]

its a sorry state when someone as base as this can be considered a genius,

[@XSilvenX]

For the most part, if you're talking about the average American with a white collar job, sure, but that isn't necessarily true for all so keep that in mind. Not everyone's biggest threat is the boredom and mediocrity of daily life. Some people actually do have hard lives filled with legitimate problems. Just something to keep in mind because what you said does sort of undermine the real difficulties some people face.

[@Fuckoffgoogle25]

so... was he dead when he did this speech? if so, should we take his advice seriously if he could not take it himself?

[@zigzeigler]

No, it seems to me that he was motivated by love. Genuinely trying to say something that would actually help his audience. I'm sorry if it has nothing of value for you. But consider the possibility that you are the one deciding how to evaluate his speech.

[@Hegeldom]

was...

[@suezz99]

That's mean

[@nersesarslanian6751]

"most of these suicides are dead long before they pull the trigger"

[@gameill]

Seems this young man thought about himself more than what was in front of him; nor beyond the limits of our pale blue dot.

[@Fuckoffgoogle25]

*chronic

[@Zenstudent105]

No one thinks you're "denigrating the female form." You're fine, dude.

[@kornflowerblues]

I really like this speech and I've honestly tried to put it's moral into practice, but for me life is still boring, still banal, still repetitive. I'm not even a very negative person, and I probably lead what many would consider a fairly exciting life, but the fact is I'm not happy and I'm not sure that I ever will be. I know there are others like that (hell, maybe David was idk). I'm probably not going to kill myself or anything, but I wouldn't mind peacefully passing away in my sleep tonight.

[@Burps___]

I've heard of David Foster Wallace. Harold Bloom, not so much. On second thought, not at all. LOL

[@TamTam2269]

Ots called depression and when you deal with that you cant control it. His doctor put him on meds that didnt work. He is who he is and with mental illness it can actually be beautiful because they take much insight then the so called normal narrow minded selfish person

[@HogsHeadStudios]

I implore Harold Bloom to find a better mind from Gen X.

[@paul_wj_lee]

Tortured genius

[@jbickle111]

If your arguing religion against this you clearly dont get it

[@juanberner]

Well, not really head on, I would just try to make you do the first move and then call it self defense, and unless you don't have a throat, eyes or groin, win. or at least try.

[@zacharytepe9124]

I like McDonalds...

[@terminatoreggs]

So... he's saying that we're not real, like holograms? It's weird. How does he go to the toilet?

[@thedionesian511]

Wats he talking about...let me enlighten...he's talking about overcoming cynical, pessimistic nihilism, he's talking about transcending objective primacy, about the abritary realization that ur perspectives are vane perpetualizations of cognitive bias. This is philosophy, therefore u might want to actually READ philosophy or u may not understand...then again its not MEANT to be understood by everyone.

[@MrTamashiokami]

actually he commited suicide in 2008 he commited suicide in 2008

[@beautimouscarrot]

he's dead and thus cannot read your comment

[@WHEREINTHEWORLDABLE]

Isn't it ironic that he committed suicide after giving this inspiring speech? Makes u wonder if he ever actually believed what he was saying

[@MrDawnRise]

Sam Hamelin is a struggling writer and jealous of David Foster Wallace's success and hates people because we are all too dumb to see it.

[@zaratrusta79]

the irony, i'm not listening to what he's saying because he sounds like a computer reading. i dreamed i could fly last night.. not fly exactly, more like glide. glide between public infrastructures.

[@2ltben]

Harold Bloom is a doddering, crotchety professor who literally has a grad student follow him around carrying his briefcase. Yeah, he's kind of a jerk.

[@sallucido3249]

This is Zen from McDonald's. I HATE the way he pontificates. If he had all the answers, they why did he hang himself in 2008???

[@PurpleEmma05]

:/ associating female genitalia with ignorance or meanness isn't cool, man. sad to see this is the highest rated comment on a video like this.

[@simonwillover4175]

Nothing this guy says makes any sense to me. It is like he is speaking another language or something.